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Scientists at NCAR and their colleagues elsewhere are at work on warning and detection systems to help keep the wheels of transport moving, even when snow and ice threaten. Meanwhile, basic research is painting a clearer picture of how weather’s usual ebb and flow crystallizes into patterns that can persist for much of a winter—and how those might evolve in a changing climate. |
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Because of our increasing reliance on satellite-driven technology and far-flung power grids, the Sun and its magnetism can wreak havoc on society in a matter of hours. New computer models and observing tools developed at NCAR are sharpening scientists’ views of the vast forces shaping magnetism on and above the Sun’s surface. These tools also help point the way toward prediction of solar storms, as well as the strength and timing of the Sun’s 11-year cycle. |
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Whether stationed on a lonely Midwest road or a deserted Atlantic beach, NCAR scientists and engineers train high-tech sensors on tornadoes, hurricanes, and severe thunderstorms in some of meteorology’s most intrepid research. Back at the lab, their data reveal new threads of similarity among many types of wild weather. Software experts at NCAR and elsewhere use these leads, plus innovative statistical techniques, to refine new models that help give forecasters and the public better guidance on weather at its worst. |
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Peering into the future of the atmosphere is hard work, whether you’re doing so as a professional forecaster or a student. Through on-site classes and workshops, distance learning tools, and a school-based observing program—all drawing on NCAR, UOP, and university expertise—UCAR helps educators, learners, and working forecasters better understand the weather and today’s tools for predicting it. |
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Atmospheric chemists have long recognized that air pollution can generate impacts far from its source. New satellite-borne instruments and software—both operating on a global scale—now map in unprecedented detail where pollutants emerge and where they travel. Several field studies are fleshing out this worldwide portrait through ground-based and airborne measurements with astounding speed and detail. |
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Will our planet's climate a few decades from now look
familiar, or will it seem more like a threatening stranger? How quickly
might New York City's climate turn into something resembling Washington's?
Policy makers and the public need answers as they look for affordable
and effective ways to address global climate change. In response,
climate scientists at NCAR continue to refine their portraits of our
past, present, and future atmosphere, using some of the world's most
powerful computers.
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Winter's Wallop
